“I told my manager I can’t get upset because it could explode any minute,” she said. “I typed up a letter asking for time off and guidance from human resources.”

One week later, on March 14, she was asked to attend a meeting with a new regional manager.

“He said, ‘You’re terminated,'” Camilleri recalled. “I tried to keep myself very calm because I knew something could happen to me. I said, ‘You’re joking – you’ve never been in my store.’ He said, ‘It’s the best thing.'”

Even worse, Zales dragged its feet on providing the paperwork needed for Rose Camilleri to start her COBRA coverage, forcing her to postpone the surgery. When her son emailed asking them to speed things up, they responded, “Well, if the surgery was rescheduled, then it’s probably not a life-or-death situation.”